“Wisconsin’s superintendent of public instruction took the first step Thursday toward withholding up to $175 million in federal funds from Milwaukee Public Schools because of the district’s failure to meet yearly academic progress targets required under law.”

Is there a precedent for this in other states?

As the story makes clear, several steps in this process still must play out.

A veteran Milwaukee education reporter writes in this article (http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/83736432.html), “You can bet that the state Department of Public Instruction won’t carry out its threat to withhold a bazillion dollars from Milwaukee Public Schools because MPS is not showing as much urgency as desired about making changes.”